


Sasuke Goes to Therapy

by LilAnnieSunshine



Series: SasuSaku Month 2020 [14]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Diary/Journal, F/M, Healing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Repression, Romance, Sakura is supportive, Uchiha Sasuke Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25519594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilAnnieSunshine/pseuds/LilAnnieSunshine
Summary: Sakura has been worried about Sasuke for a while, but there's only so much help she can give him on her own.After attacking Sakura one night, thinking she's the enemy, Sasuke is ready to try anything that will stop him from hurting her again. He agrees to see a therapist who makes him keep a journal.One day, he shows Sakura the entry he wrote about her "The biggest positive influence in my life."Story is a lot more serious than the title implies.Written for SasuSaku month day 15. Prompt: RecoveryWritten late because I don't play by your rules man.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Series: SasuSaku Month 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812370
Kudos: 49





	Sasuke Goes to Therapy

She’s spent just about her whole life caring for him, but he’s not the easiest patient. In fact, Sasuke is the puzzle Sakura may never solve.

She’s a medical ninja, a healer, one of the greatest of all time. She’s never met a patient she couldn’t heal, until him.

She wonders why he chose to lose his arm forever when she could’ve just as easily reattached it like she and Tsunade did with Naruto’s. She knows he considers it payment for his sins somehow, but she’ll never fully understand.

Sasuke tells her she knows him better than just about anyone, including Naruto.

She knows this is only half true. She could make a ven diagram of all the ways she and Naruto understand Sasuke. The circles mostly overlap, but there are slivers that only Sakura understands and others only Naruto understands.

She’s reminded of how much of him is a mystery that night. She gets off the late shift at the hospital and drops her things at the door. She doesn’t bother to mumble “I’m home,” since she knows Sasuke is asleep anyway. She walks her tired body into their bedroom and the next thing she knows, she’s planted facedown on the bed with her arms pulled roughly behind her back.

She looks behind her shoulder, Sasuke’s sharingan is spinning. He has a mad look in his eye.

She screams. She can’t help but think about the past, his hand around her neck, him trying to kill her with her own poisoned kunai, him trying to chidori her through the chest.

The mad look fades. A look of horror flashes over Sasuke’s face before he lets go. “I’m sorry.” He says quickly. He opens the bedroom window and takes off into the night, leaving Sakura alone and shaken up.

She wonders what made Sasuke unable to drop his guard. She realizes they’ve spent very little of their lives together. There is much of Sasuke’s past that is still a mystery. She wraps her arms around herself. She wishes he’d stay and talk it out instead of leaving her like this. She tries to sleep, but she can’t.

Sasuke goes to a bar. He doesn’t drink. He just sits. He sits far away from Sakura’s apartment, where he can’t hurt her. He’ll sleep here for the night if he has to.

She’s out shopping for groceries the next day.

“Can I help you with that, pretty lady?” Naruto grabs the basket out of her arms.

She giggles. It’s a genuine compliment, Naruto wants to make her smile and nothing more, he’s in love with Hinata now. “If you’re offering.”

Naruto looks down at her arms. A confused expression comes over his face. “What happened there?”

Sakura looks down at her own arms. Bruises, the ones Sasuke left last night when he thought she was an intruder. The ones she didn’t bother to heal because she was too tired. She looked away sadly. “It’s nothing. I woke Sasuke up and he got startled, that’s all. I just wish we knew what Orochimaru did to him, or Madara, or Danzo or any of the number of people who have messed with his happiness over the years.”

Naruto thinks about it. “Maybe he should talk to someone.”

“I’ve been trying to get him to talk for the past year.”

“No, talk to someone like a professional.”

Sakura gives him a confused look.

Naruto pulls Sakura around to the side of the shop. They are standing in an alley now. He whispers. “A few weeks ago, Hinata and I were putting away groceries and she was wearing this dress that made her look like a princess, so I told her she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Then she got all embarrassed and she ended up tripping and squishing the carton of strawberries we bought. She started crying, saying that she was a clumsy disgrace and she just wasted the strawberries. So I hugged her and told her it was okay, but she insisted it wasn’t. The Hyuugas really messed her up, you know? I thought Neji had it bad but Hinata had it just as bad, even if she didn’t talk about it. I didn’t know what else to say so I told her she might to talk to someone. She told me she was scared. I told her I’d got too. So now we go to therapy once a week.” Naruto shrugs and smiles.

“Has it helped you?” Sakura knows Naruto had a rough childhood, but he always does his best to smile and not let it impact how he treats other people, except to empathize with them.

“I think so. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve also learned ways to help Hinata boost her confidence.”

“I don’t know if Sasuke would go for that…”

“Tell him to try it.”  
“I don’t know –“  
“If you tell him to do it, he’ll do it. I’m sure.”  
“Okay.”

Sakura comes home to a bouquet of roses and a huge take-out container full of her favorite dumplings. Sasuke is at the kitchen table looking sheepish. “I’m sorry about the other night.”

“I wish you would’ve stayed and talked about it.” Sakura admits to him.

“Hn.” He says, opening up the container and offering her some dumplings.

“Darling, have you ever considered talking to someone about the way you feel?” She asks, meeting his eyes and giving him a sweet, sincere look she reserves just for him.

“If I don’t talk to you about it, what makes you think I’ll talk to a therapist?”

Sakura isn’t sure how to feel. On one hand, he’s just admitted he tells her the most personal things about himself, on the other hand, he just shot down her idea.

“Naruto and Hinata are going. She’s unlearning a lot of unhealthy habits she learned growing up in the Hyuuga clan. Naruto is dealing with growing up without a family.”

Sakura can see the wheels in Sasuke’s head turning. The Uchiha clan also had a lot of unhealthy habits. And he certainly grew up without a family.

“You really scared me last night.” Sakura admits. Normally, when he’s in these moods she tells him everything is okay. She can’t lie to him anymore.

He looks at her in shock. He’s hurt her so much. She’s the last person on earth he wants to see in pain.

When he doesn’t speak, she keeps talking. “When you pinned me to the bed, it reminded me of the time you tried to kill me. You weren’t yourself then. I don’t like seeing you like that, and if you won’t let me help you, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t keep being afraid in my own home.”

Sasuke considers it. He knows she’s not asking him to leave, just to protect her in way. He decides he’ll do it. If it’s for her, he’ll do anything.

He sees the therapist once a week. When he comes home, he seems more tired than when he left, but he also seems calmer. He starts keeping a journal.

Months go by. He hasn’t snapped and hurt her since he started going to therapy. One day, he hands the journal to her.

“I wrote about you today.”

Sakura reads the passage, only the passage. She wants to share Sasuke’s grief with him, but she won’t force it out. She knows one day he’ll tell her everything.

_Prompt: Write about someone who has changed you in a positive way._

_“My girlfriend Sakura has loved me since we were children. I didn’t like her at first. I thought she was the most annoying girl in the world, it didn’t help that she was the prettiest too, that just made her more annoying._

_We were put on the same genin team. She was less annoying that my other teammate, the idiot. I don’t know why, but I liked showing off to her, even more than I liked being strong normally. We were ambushed our first mission out of the village, I jumped in front of her to save her. Then my sensei stole the glory. It annoyed me more than usual, that’s when I first realized I actually cared about Sakura as a friend._

_I knew I was in trouble when we were in the Forest of Death. As I mentioned in earlier entries, we were attacked by Orochimaru and I got my curse mark. It started one of the darkest periods of my life. I woke up to see some Sound Ninja hurting Sakura. I woke up with my wounds dressed and a compress on my head, I knew she was taking care of me. I wanted to take care of her. When I saw the girl who cared for me beaten and blood, I wanted to tear the people who did limb from limb. The rush of power and hatred felt amazing, until I came to my senses. She brought me to my senses with a hug and pleading words. I stopped. I couldn’t bear to see her any more hurt than she already was._

_She always took good care of me. She made sure I was healthy and asked about my emotional well being, even if I wasn’t being nice to her. I almost lost her during the attack on the Leaf Village. Losing her would feel like my whole world._

_I cut ties with her to keep her safe. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I wanted power so I traded the girl who loved me, who promised to take care of me, and to make me happy for a chance at revenge on someone who turned out to be just as innocent as she was. She asked to follow. I knocked her out and left her on a park bench._

_When we were apart, I tried not to think of her. It hurt. I knew I hurt her and I didn’t want think about it. She came into my dreams without my permission. I couldn’t shake her from my mind._

_When she tried to kill me, I deserved it, but I felt like it was the ultimate act of betrayal. I tried to kill her, to kill that part of me that loved, forever._

_We fought on the same side one more time before I hurt her again. I knocked her out cold, making her think I killed her before I left with intent to kill our best friend. She came to me afterward anyway. She healed me with the same hands she used to heal him._

_She was faithful to me during our long distance relationship, even though I know it was hard on her to be away from me for so long._

_She welcomed me home with open arms and took me in, for the first time in so long I feel like the place I live in is a home._

_I’ve never met anyone more caring, compassionate, loving, gentle or kind than her. Sometimes, she’s rough with other people, but never with me. She saved me from myself. I can never repay her. I can only hope to make her proud. I hope to be the man she’s proud to call hers._

_When I look at her, I see our past, the little girl who loved me for years and asked for nothing in return. Our present, the woman who spars with me and then comes home and holds me. And our future. I want to grow old with her. She makes me a better person, and I will never let her go again._

Sakura had tears in her eyes reading the passage. “Sasuke –“

He put a finger to her lips. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just wanted you to know. Now you know.”

“Do you want me to hold you now?”

“Yes.”

Sakura smiles and leads him to their bedroom, she relaxes on the bed and puts his head on her chest. She strokes his hair. He sighs contently. Sakura thinks about Sasuke’s recovery. Months ago he’d never share something like this with her, he didn’t have the words, now he was writing whole essays.


End file.
